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San Diego Padres’ Austin Hedges hits an RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Orlando Ramirez)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Nick Hundley #5 of the San Francisco Giants is tagged out in a run down by Cory Spangenberg #15 of the San Diego Padres as Yangervis Solarte #26 looks on during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Ty Blach #50 of the San Francisco Giants pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Travis Wood #37 of the San Diego Padres pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Travis Wood #37 of the San Diego Padres watches the flight of his solo home run hit during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Nick Hundley #5 of the San Francisco Giants is tagged out in a run down by Cory Spangenberg #15 of the San Diego Padres as Yangervis Solarte #26 looks on during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Ty Blach #50 of the San Francisco Giants hits a single during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

San Diego Padres’ Jabari Blash is caught stealing as he is tagged at second base by San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Orlando Ramirez)

San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik throws out San Diego Padres’ Cory Spangenberg at first base during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Orlando Ramirez)

San Diego Padres’ Jose Pirela hits a home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Orlando Ramirez)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Jose Pirela #2 of the San Diego Padres, right, is congratulated by Wil Myers #4 after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 30: Ty Blach #50 of the San Francisco Giants stands on the mound after giving up a solo home run to Jose Pirela #2 of the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game at PETCO Park on August 30, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO – A stray rumor floated through the Twitterverse on Wednesday, and it made absolutely no sense: The Giants have expressed trade interest in Detroit Tigers outfielder Justin Upton, according to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports.

Huh? Upton can opt out of the remaining four years and $88 million on his contract after the season. He has a partial no-trade clause. And given that he has said on the record that he dislikes hitting at AT&T Park, the Giants are probably on his verboten list. None of it computes.

Then you look at the lineup that Giants manager Bruce Bochy rolled out against a left-handed pitcher in a 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. And the rumor begins to make all the sense in the world.

Bochy’s No.2 batter, Kelby Tomlinson, hasn’t hit a home run all season. Neither has the No.3 batter, Gorkys Hernandez. It is not a small sample, either. They have 468 plate appearances between them.

His No.5 hitter was his backup catcher, Nick Hundley.

Not only was Bochy forced to put Pablo Sandoval in the lineup despite a .105 average from the right side, but he also started him at first base – a position he had not played since the day in 2012 when he tore his hamstring while doing the splits on a stretch at the bag.

If their lineup were any lighter, they’d have chartered a glider back to the Bay Area.

The Giants’ best right-handed hitter, Buster Posey, was out of the lineup for a third consecutive day because of a bone bruise in his left thumb. He could return Thursday when the Giants begin a four-game home series with the St. Louis Cardinals. But his presence only goes so far.

Last year, Posey hit two home runs after the All-Star break. This year, he has three.

Has the Giants’ total lack of right-handed power ever been more apparent? While the rest of baseball is smacking Top Flites to the apron, the Giants are a few yards in front of the tee box sitting one. It makes it awfully hard to compete night after night unless they receive a three-hit shutout, like the one Jeff Samardzija provided on Monday.

Despite that strong series opener, the Giants failed to win a series against the Padres for the eighth consecutive time. They didn’t get a single RBI from a right-handed hitter in the final five games of this trip while dropping series at Arizona and San Diego. Their road series record this season is 3-17-2.

Padres left-hander Travis Wood worked out of jams and even hit a home run – his first since last October, when he was pitching for the Cubs and took George Kontos deep in the NL Division Series at Wrigley Field. Jose Pirela also homered off Ty Blach as the fourth-place Padres improved to seven games better than the last-place Giants in the NL West while beating them for the 11th time in 16 games this season.

The Giants were 9-0 against the Padres in the first half of last season. Since then, they have lost 19 of 26.

Unlike the Padres, the Giants will not seek to start over this winter and fill out their roster with organizational leavings in the Rule 5 draft.

They will turn over rocks while trying to find an impact source of right-handed power for 2018. If you believe the rumors, some of those rocks will be boulders.

No wonder Upton’s combination of power and solid defense interests them, even if it’s hard to imagine the two parties matching up. Even if Upton does become a free agent, the Giants know they will be stuck in the same bind as usual, having to overpay relative to market value to get a hitter to come play at AT&T Park.

Call it Rowand’s Razor.

Perhaps they were just trying to scour some advance information on Upton’s interest in coming to San Francisco.

And you can bet the Giants will all but bug the offices of the new ownership in Miami to ascertain their appetite for trading Giancarlo Stanton. There are plenty of impracticalities to a deal with the Marlins, too, but the Giants will be motivated to try. Ditto for the Blue Jays and Josh Donaldson.

Sometimes you go for a test drive and surprise yourself by taking it home, whether you can afford it or not.

There will be less compelling options on the free-agent market as well. While it wouldn’t be the most creative move, the Giants could always sign Todd Frazier to play third base and use Sandoval off the bench.

The rest of Wednesday’s game was about as thrilling as you might expect between two clubs that entered the day a combined 74 games out of first place.

Blach pitched well other than the two home run balls in 5 2/3 innings; his third run scored on Kyle Crick’s wild pitch. Blach also went 2 for 2 at the plate.

There were a number of crisp defensive plays, too. Shortstop Brandon Crawford had to treat Tomlinson like a high hurdle while they converged as he picked up a ground ball. Center fielder Denard Span made a sliding grab.

Blach and Joe Panik combined on the most remarkable play of the night, when the pitcher kicked a comebacker and the second baseman made a diving stop before gathering himself to throw out Yangervis Solarte in the second inning.

“It reminded me of the play he made for me at Triple-A last year,” said Blach, of the oft replayed highlight on a ball that first baseman Kevin Frandsen deflected. “That was fun to see.”

But the Giants stranded eight runners in the first five innings and failed to score against a left-hander who threw 97 pitches in 4 1/3 innings. It was just the fourth time in the last 25 seasons that a major leaguer threw that many pitches, recorded 13 or fewer outs and allowed no runs.

Blach went 2 for 2 and ignited the Giants’ best chance when he doubled in the fifth inning. They had the bases loaded with one out after Tomlinson walked and Hernandez singled. But Hunter Pence struck out and Hundley grounded out.

Sandoval had a chance with two aboard in the eighth, but he struck out against Padres left-hander Brad Hand.

Sandoval hit .199 from the right side as a Giant in 2014 before he signed his five-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. Since then, he quit switch-hitting for a time because of a shoulder injury that he addressed with surgery. He is trying to switch hit again, and it has been a struggle. He’s 4 for 41 from the right side this year and 6 for 82 (.073) over the past three seasons.

Sandoval said his shoulder feels fine and he isn’t deterred by the lack of right-handed results.

“It’s a process,” Sandoval said. “I have to keep working. I’m feeling better every day. Before, I had to do it because of my shoulder. But it feels good now.”

The Giants will continue to let the Sandoval experiment play out in September. Although he has been a good clubhouse presence and his energy is welcome on a club that has played a funeral dirge for months, this is a game of production. And for now, the best that can be said is that the Giants are remaining open minded.

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Johnny Cueto threw well in his side session and as long as he comes out of it with no issues, he would be activated and return to the rotation Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bochy said.

The Giants plan to employ a six-man rotation for at least one turn, Bochy said.